Still Time
by Sariyuki
Summary: [Completed] Sanzo & Hakkai had to rescue their comrades who were kidnapped by some unknown enemy and found themselves in a dead town. Shounen-ai.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Still Time  
Author: Sariyuki  
Disclaimer: Saiyuki and its wonderful characters belong to Kazuya Minekura sama whom I worship!  
Pairing: Sanzo + Hakkai  
Warning: Shounen ai. Adventure. Romance.  


It was a fine morning that greeted Sanzo and the gang. Another dawn had come and it was time to go on their journey to the West yet again. 

A big yawn was coming from a bleary eyes Gojyo as Goku was walking towards the front door of the inn they were staying for the night. As always, he said, "I'm so hungry!" 

"Ch!" replied Gojyo. "Can't you say anything else? Something intelligent, monkey?" 

"Hey!" protested Goku. "Don't call me monkey!" 

Goku turned to Sanzo who was reading the morning news provided by the inn keeper. "Sanzo, when are we leaving for a restaurant?" 

"Shut up, Goku. I'm reading," replied Sanzo, not looking up from the paper. 

"But, Sanzo...," whined Goku, not taking the hint to shut up. 

"Just wait in the car, will you?" snapped Sanzo, irritated to be disturbed so early in the morning. 

Gojyo saw Goku's crestfallen expression and pitied him. Goku never learnt his lessons, thought Gojyo. Didn't he know already that Sanzo's grumpiest in the morning? 

Gojyo put his arm around Goku's shoulder and dragged him outside. "Come on, monkey. Never mind that wordly monk." 

As Gojyo was reaching the door, he turned around and realized that one member of their group was missing, "Sanzo, where's Hakkai?" 

"Still in the room," replied Sanzo, still not looking up. 

Gojyo frowned and then shrugged. 

"Well, okay. We'll be waiting in the car. Be quick, you two." 

The door was slammed shut. At the same time, Hakkai was appearing in the room. 

"Where's everybody?" 

Sanzo folded the newspaper and put it on the table. "They're waiting in the car." 

Hakkai looked puzzle, "Car? What car?" 

Sanzo gave Hakkai a critical look, "What do you mean 'what car?'?" 

"If what you mean car was Hakuryuu then you must be mistaken because he is sill with me. See?" explained Hakkai. 

"Kyuu," added Hakuryuu helpfully from Hakkai's shoulder. 

"What the...," Sanzo began. 

Hakkai was already running towards the door, just in time to see Gojyo and Goku talking animatedly at the back of a Hakuryuu look alike jeep. 

"Kyuu!" even Hakuryuu was surprised. 

"Gojyo! Goku! Jump out from that car!" shouted Hakkai urgently. 

"Huh?" replied Gojyo intelligently. 

At that very moment, the Hakuryuu-look alike jeep suddenly started itself and drove away. 

"What the hell?" yelled Gojyo, startled. 

"Hey!" protested Goku as a seatbelt magically appeared on the side of his seat and bound him firmly onto the seat. 

Gojyo saw what happened to Goku but it was too late because the same thing was happening to him too. 

"Shit! What the hell is this?" 

"I can't break the damn seatbelt!" 

Meanwhile, Hakkai had asked Hakuryuu to change form and motioned Sanzo urgently to follow the fake jeep. 

"Damn," muttered Hakkai crossly as he started the jeep up. "How can they be so careless?" 

Sanzo sat himself in his usual position in the jeep and muttered, "Idiots." 

They began their chase but the fake jeep was going very fast ahead. Hakkai accelerated as fast as he could and tried to keep up but the distance between them was getting wider. 

"Can you see anything, Sanzo?" 

Sanzo peered into the distance. "I could just make out the shape of those two idiots, bickering still." 

Hakkai shook his head, a faint smile appeared on his face. "Those two really can't stop, can they? Even in this situation..." 

Sanzo scowled, "A pair of total idiots. That's why." 

Hakkai took a sharp turn following the fake jeep into a small path that led them into a mountain track. It was getting difficult, not to mention dangerous, to drive fast in the zigzag track. One wrong turn and it's game over. 

However, Hakkai couldn't care less about driving safety right now because he was more concerned with the fate of his two companions. The distance between them was impossible to breach and it made him even more worried. He couldn't even see the smoke behind the other jeep. They were losing their chase. 

Hakkai pressed the gas pedal deeper and accelerated. 

"Oi, Hakkai," warned Sanzo. 

"It's okay, Sanzo," replied Hakkai, eyes concentrated fully on the dangerous path ahead of him. 

It seemed that they had been driving for a whole hour but the mountain track seemed to lead them nowhere and the other jeep was long gone from their vision. 

"Sanzo," called Hakkai warily after a few moments of silence. "What do we do now?" 

"Keep moving," replied Sanzo firmly. "There's nothing else we can do." 

"You're right," agreed Hakkai. 

Sanzo cast a sideway glance at his companion and he could feel how Hakkai was worried. It felt strange to him that Hakkai was more concerned about the fate of those two than he was. But Sanzo was pretty sure that Gojyo and Goku were more than capable to take care of themselves. They were not weaklings. 

Hakkai wore a serious expression on his face. His eyes fixed on the road and his lips pursed thinly in concentration. It was not usual to see him worked up like that. He was always so calm. 

Does he really care that much for those two? thought Sanzo. 

It couldn't be that he is worrying about Goku, thought Sanzo speculatively. All of them seemed to have formed an opinion that nothing could ever kill Goku. Goku was too strong. He was a special creature or a monster, some would call. No, Goku was more than capable to take care of himself. 

So... he must be worrying about Gojyo? Sanzo frowned at the thought. He felt his chest burnt with jealousy. 

Jealousy? Where did that word come from? Sanzo shook his head mentally to clear his head and scowled at himself. 

"Sanzo? It may be a town ahead of us," pointed Hakkai ahead. 

"A town?" Sanzo cast his mind back to current affair. "In the middle of nowhere?" 

"It seems empty," observed Sanzo. 

"What a strange town," said Hakkai. "It seems so old." 

"And dead," added Sanzo, lighting a cigarette. 

"Yes," agreed Hakkai. "It's a bit under populated, I have to admit." 

Sanzo inhaled his smoke and tried to analyse the situation. It was obvious that the town wasn't just an ordinary town. There was nobody as far as eyes could see. It seemed like an abandoned town. This had to be the enemy's play ground, which meant that they could start searching for their lost companions in here. But Sanzo also realized that this could also mean somewhere in this town there was certainly a trap waiting for them to fall into. 

"Shall we take a walk, Sanzo?" 

"Why not?" replied Sanzo and strolled forward. 

They walked down the main street of the town in silence. The street was covered with dust as if it hadn't been walked on for so many years. If there was only one word to describe the street, it was dusty. 

Sanzo noted there were faint marks of car's wheels on the street. They had to be the marks of the other jeep, the fake jeep. He glanced at Hakkai and Hakkai nodded his agreement. They had come to the right place. Now it's time for them to look for the fake jeep and their comrades. 

Dry winds blew the dust off the main street, even the air smelled of abandoned civilization. Hakkai looked around and took a mental note of everything he encountered along the street. He strained his sight and hearing, trying to find some clues as to the whereabouts of his comrades. 

Sanzo was also deep in thought. He touched the cold metal of his gun for assurance. If this was a trap as he was as sure as hell it was, he would like to be prepared for the worst. He felt that there's something oddly wrong about the place. He moved forward. No living things seemed to be in sight. 

Sanzo came to realize what was wrong. It was the quietness of the town. A kind of quietness which set people on edge. He didn't like the feel of it. 

Suddenly, there was a shower of arrows bursting from the right side of the street. 

"Watch out!" 

Hakkai took a stance and created an energy barrier to protect both of them while Sanzo shooting at the general direction of their enemies. But Sanzo's bullets went wasted because they only hit the wall of an old building. The arrows seemed to come from a small alley in between the buildings on the side of the street. But who were shooting the arrows? There was no one there. 

Then the shower of arrows stopped as abruptly as it came. 

Hakkai lowered his hands and the barrier vanished. They both ran to the mouth of the alley and found there's no trace of the enemies. 

They looked around expectantly, waiting for another burst of attacks. Sanzo scanned his surrounding, everything seemed as quiet as before the attack. How he hated this kind of battle. He had always preferred a more straight forward approach to cowardly ones. Cowards got on his nerves. 

"What a surprise, eh, Sanzo?" 

Sanzo glanced at his smiling companion and snorted. Even in the midst of a battle he'd find the green eyed youkai smiling amiably to the world in general. His character is getting worse, thought Sanzo. He found that sometimes Hakkai got on his nerves too. 

"This town is not so dead after all." 

Sanzo growled his agreement, "Soon it will be if I ever catch those cowardly bastards..." 

"Let's keep looking," suggested Hakkai. 

Hakkai walked around aimlessly, looking for some clues that the enemies might leave. All he could find was some broken arrows. Hakkai bent down to examine the arrows closely. Those arrows that had tried to penetrate his barriers and failed. Just ordinary arrows. No clues, whatsoever. That was highly suspicious. Their attack was so neat. What was this about then? The kidnapping... the attack... 

"A psychopath, I've no doubt." 

Hakkai looked up. 

"I bet they'll try some cowardly tricks again." 

"Yes," agreed Hakkai, standing up. 

They resumed their walk in silence along the dusty street. Hakkai felt there was something fundamentally wrong about the place. For one, the wind didn't seem to move and the air felt heavy. Everything seemed ill looking about this place. Even the colour of the sky looked wrong. And the silence, it was getting worse. The only sound that could be heard was their footsteps. Hakkai sidled closer to his companion without thinking. 

Sanzo could feel Hakkai's uneasiness. They walked side by side and their shoulders brushed occasionally and sometimes their hands touched. Sanzo's face was carefully blank. What will happen if I just grab his hand and keep walking as if nothing happens? Will I be able get away with that? What will he do? 

Sanzo frowned at his own train of thoughts. When did he begin to think like this of Hakkai? He had never wanted to touch anyone at all. He hated physical contacts with anyone. Just now he wanted to hold Hakkai's hand. Just because he was so close to him. Just because he could. 

Just because there was only the two of them now. 

What is it all about? frowned Sanzo. 

Their hands touched again. Sanzo was startled. Hakkai's hand felt cold even if the weather was far from cold. 

"Sanzo? What's wrong?" 

Sanzo avoided Hakkai's gaze, "Nothing. I... was just thinking." 

"Oh. Right. This place got on my nerves too." 

Sanzo said nothing. 

Hakkai scratched his head absentmindedly, "You know, I've been thinking... this street could la-" 

"Your hand," cut in Sanzo suddenly. 

"Eh?" 

"It's cold," said Sanzo, not exactly looking at Hakkai. 

"Oh," Hakkai looked down and examined his left hand, the one that he assumed Sanzo was talking about. "Is it?" 

"Well," Hakkai mused. "I only notice they're cold when I use too much energy in battles." 

Sanzo said nothing. 

"Could it be that I have low blood pressure?" 

Hakkai chuckled lightly at his own joke. 

Sanzo snorted. 

Suddenly Hakkai took Sanzo's hand in his and clasped it with both of his hands, "What about your hand?" 

"Hey!" protested Sanzo. He was startled. Hakkai rarely initiated physical contacts with anyone. Yes, Hakkai was undoubtedly friendly with everyone but at the same time he had always seemed to distance himself respectably from them. Sanzo often wondered why. And now... 

"Ah," Hakkai began. "Your hand is certainly warmer than-" 

Hakkai gasped. An arrow had shot him on his right hand. He let go of Sanzo's hand. Sanzo turned around in a flash and shot his gun randomly. But there was no one he could see. He cursed loudly. 

"Come out and fight, for god's sake!" 

Only silence replied his challenge. There wasn't even as much of an echo of his shout. Sanzo scanned his surrounding wildly. He was furiously disgusted at being attack from behind, twice at that too! But how could they ask for fair play when their enemies were demons? 

Hakkai is a demon too, thought Sanzo warily. 

"Are you alright?" asked Sanzo. 

"Yeah," lied Hakkai, still trying to smile as if nothing bad happened. 

Sanzo eyed him suspiciously, "Let me see your hand." 

He took Hakkai's hand. The blood was trickling down from the cut but fortunately the wound wasn't so deep. Hakkai's hand was even colder than before. Sanzo bent down and tore the end of his robe and used it to bandage Hakkai's wounded hand. Hakkai was startled when he saw what Sanzo's doing and was about to protest when he saw Sanzo glaring at him, daring him to protest his actions. 

It wasn't like Sanzo to care about anyone so much, thought Hakkai. But it was a pleasant surprise, decided Hakkai that Sanzo should worry about him. A smile appeared on Hakkai's face, despite the pain that he's feeling. 

"Thank you." 

Sanzo only grunted in return, apparently still engrossed in the task of bandaging Hakkai's wound. It wasn't a neat job, Hakkai had to admit. But he was prepared to get wounded everyday if that's what it took to get this uncharacteristic care from the blonde monk. What have I done to get this attention? mused Hakkai. 

"Wipe that smile off your face." 

"Oh," Hakkai's smile got even wider. "Was I smiling?" 

Sanzo looked at him and scowled, "You seem so satisfied about something." 

"There it's done! Let's get moving," said Sanzo harshly. 

But Hakkai didn't seem to notice the harshness. It was one of Sanzo's bad habit to be harsh to people and it was also one of Hakkai's bad habit to be ignorant about certain things when he wanted to. That was why they got along so well. 

Hakkai stood up and walked after the monk. His hand was stinging from the pain but he could ignore it for now, he's used to wounds anyway. He was trying to think of something that he felt strange. Something strange about Sanzo, thought Hakkai. He felt pain in his chest suddenly and realized that this place was dangerous for the two of them. They were exposed in the hands of unknown enemies. What if something bad happens to Sanzo? 

So deep in thought, Hakkai didn't realize that they had reached the corner of the street and had to take a new route to the right. 

To be continued... 


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Still Time  
Chapter: 2  


Sanzo stopped in his track. A couple of hundred metres from him there stood an old building, some kind of a church of Victorian style. It was a large and ancient building with high walls surrounded by dead trees on its right and left sides. The iron gates in front of the building were wide open. A closer inspection would reveal that the rusty gates hadn't been in function for ages. The tallest tower of the building had a big old clock at the very top. 

Sanzo fancied he could see the movements of the second hand of the clock. That is odd, thought Sanzo, you would have thought everything is dead in this town. Apparently that clock was alive. 

"Very interesting," stated Hakkai mildly. "Have you seen the clock, Sanzo?" 

"Yeah," nodded Sanzo. "The hands are moving." 

"Yes," said Hakkai. "I assume that's where we're supposed to go next." 

Sanzo glared at the building. 

"Let's go," he said briskly and led the way. 

Surprisingly, the big entrance door of the building was slightly ajar, as if daring them to come inside. As if they were expected here. Sanzo kicked the door open effortlessly. 

"Maybe we should knock first?" suggested Hakkai. 

"We can just help ourselves, can't we?" replied Sanzo. 

"Ah," smiled Hakkai. "You're right. We're being polite, aren't we?" 

"Damn right!" 

They found themselves in an empty hall, dimly lit by candles. Moving forward cautiously, they heard the stony floor echoed their footsteps and bounced the noise off the walls. Hakkai looked up. The high roof was decorated with a very big chandelier. Oddly enough, the candles on the chandelier were all lit. The glow illuminated the large room with uncomfortable light. 

The door was suddenly shut with a loud bang. 

"Interesting," said Hakkai mildly. 

Sanzo shot at the door a few times but nothing happened. It seemed that the door was protected by some kind of invisible barrier. He kicked it, just in case but it stayed solidly closed. Sanzo suspected there was some kind of magical barrier used here. He glared at it for some time. 

"Do you want me to try?" offered Hakkai. 

"I don't think it'll make any difference," replied Sanzo slowly, still examining the closed door. 

"My, my," mused Hakkai. "Might as well spend the night here. Free accommodation for once." 

"Ch!" replied Sanzo. "This place stinks. Not my kind of accommodation, thank you very much." 

"I was only joking, Sanzo," chided Hakkai half heartedly, while strolling forward and towards some kind of an altar in the middle of the hall. 

Sanzo chose to ignore Hakkai's remark and strolled in a different direction. The suddenly shut door didn't worry him that much. He could deal with it later. More urgently than the door now was to find the pair of annoying idiots who had managed to get themselves kidnapped. Sanzo swore that he'd make them pay dearly when he'd found them. 

"This place is a bit typical, don't you think?" continued Hakkai in a conversational tone, not the slightest hint of being affected by the fact that they're completely locked inside an unknown building. 

"A door that's opened and closed by itself, a big chandelier full of lit candles, a big empty hall, an altar with strange carved writings on it...," mused Hakkai lightly, walking around to examine what else he could find in the room. "I expect we should now find a stair going to a dungeon and meet some monsters or probably a dragon there." 

"What are you talking about, Hakkai?" asked Sanzo wearily. 

"Well, this place is just like those in children's books. Your basic Witch Castle with some monsters and a princess to rescue at the top of the tower," explained Hakkai patiently. 

"But we've only got two morons to rescue," pointed Sanzo. 

"Yeah well," Hakkai smiled at Sanzo brightly. "Reality is a bit different from fairy tales." 

"I suppose I still can hope you're right about the monsters," said Sanzo. "I could do with some ass kicking." 

"Oh I'm almost certain about it," replied Hakkai, still inspecting the place with greatest interest. "As a matter of fact I think I've found the stair, Sanzo." 

"The problem is," said Sanzo when he saw the stair. "Should we go up or down first?" 

Hakkai seemed to contemplate about this for a while before he shrugged his slender shoulders. "Maybe we could do with a few ass kicking?" 

Sanzo smirked. "To the dungeons then?" 

Hakkai nodded his agreement and followed Sanzo going down the stairs. The stairs were curling downwards, illuminated by sets of candles on the stony walls. Someone or some people were certainly expecting visitors here because everywhere the candles were lit. Hakkai started to feel uneasy again. What is this building and who owns it? he frowned at the thought. 

They walked in silence and their shadows were moving swiftly here and there as they progressed on. Hakkai was still deep in thought when suddenly he smelled something in the air. Fragranced candles? thought Hakkai. It strangely smelled like roses. 

"Smell like dead roses." 

Sanzo slowed down his pace and nodded, "Hm." 

"This is a pretty creepy place I must admit," stated Hakkai. 

Sanzo kept on walking. "Not your idea of a witch castle?" 

Hakkai shrugged, "I don't know. Never been to one." 

"Maybe a real witch castle is like this," said Sanzo. 

"Maybe," conceded Hakkai. 

"How was your hand?" asked Sanzo after a few seconds of silence. 

Hakkai checked his bandaged hand, "It's fine. The blood has stopped leaking out. Thanks." 

Sanzo wondered what else he should say. He felt quite unlike his usual self to be concerned about trivial things like for example, Hakkai's hand and its wound. He should be thinking something useful, like how long would it take them to reach the dungeon? It seemed that they had walked forever and would never reach the bottom of the stairs. This wasn't good. The passage was quite narrow and they'd be easy targets for their enemies if they were attacked here. 

Meanwhile Hakkai was wondering the same thing, only from the opposite direction. Sanzo was being very civilized for sure, thought Hakkai amusedly. He paid his attention to the outline of his blonde companion. Sanzo's hair reflected the candle light even in the dark, the way shadows and light alternated to fall on it fascinated Hakkai. He was always one to appreciate beauty and what he was seeing now was no doubt beautiful. He had always liked the graceful way Sanzo moved, the elegance that's always radiating from the monk whatever he did. 

Hakkai carefully went through the strange chain of events that had happened to them since the morning. The kidnapping of Gojyo and Goku, the fake jeep and the failed chase, which resulted in him and Sanzo ended up in this strange and sinister castle. Everything that had happened so far was too strange. And this included Sanzo's behaviour. 

Hakkai remembered the strange way Sanzo had been giving him looks. When did it start, Hakkai tried to recall some recent incidents. Sanzo had been giving him special attention lately. At first, he thought it was strange and left it at that. And now it's all coming back to his mind. What did he say before? thought Hakkai. My hand was cold he said. Why would he care about my hand? 

Hakkai glanced at the injured hand. Sanzo's robe was wrapped around it but his blood had stained the ivory cloth. He never knew that Sanzo cared enough to want to tear out his robe for anyone, let alone bandaging a wound. Sanzo had always said that he didn't care a bit for any of his travel mates. It turned out that he did care for him though. The thought made Hakkai smile. Well he had suspected that quite a while. Sanzo wasn't always honest with everything. Why should he anyway? 

This was the second time today that Sanzo had made him smile. He shouldn't get his hopes too high, he knew. The higher you fly, the harder you fall. That was the one lesson that he had learnt the hard way. It was one lesson he wasn't going to forget. If he was able to smile like this occasionally it was more than good. Because Hakkai knew only love could break his heart and he didn't want to be broken again. 

If he could protect Sanzo until this journey was over, it was more than good for him. It was what he had intended to do ever since that night when Sanzo asked if he wanted to leave their group to avenge Kanan's death. He had decided to stay because vaguely as it was, he had found a reason to stay. 

Suddenly Sanzo came to a halt. Hakkai stopped himself in time, as not to hit the monk in front of him. The sudden stop had put Hakkai's mind back to reality. 

"What is it, Sanzo?" 

"We're here," replied Sanzo and motioned Hakkai to follow him. 

It was pitch black in the dungeon. The last of the candles on the wall had been a few metres away. Hakkai couldn't even see Sanzo's outline in front of him. His eyes blinked a few times, trying to adapt to the sudden darkness. He kept on walking forward cautiously. 

"I can't bloody see anything!" muttered Sanzo in the dark. 

"Maybe you can use your lighter to brighten up this place a bit," suggested Hakkai. 

It was at this moment when Sanzo stopped moving to fumble for his lighter that Hakkai hit him from behind and made him lose his balance. "Hey!" protested Sanzo as Hakkai reached out his hand to try and grab Sanzo by the sleeve only to be pulled down by Sanzo's weight. 

The two of them went down on the cold hard floor, followed by a string of curses from Sanzo's lips. There was a sound of something hit by a metal and a yelp of pain. Something hard had hit the monk's head and he was flat on his back with Hakkai's weight on top of him. Sanzo found his current situation very undignified and cursed once more. 

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" 

"It's you who stopped suddenly, Sanzo," replied Hakkai reasonably. "I'm not a cat so I can't see in the dark all that well." 

It was indeed very dark and quite impossible to see anything but Sanzo could feel the shape of Hakkai on top of him and it was starting to make him uncomfortable. He could feel Hakkai's breath on his face as he was speaking and felt a hot surge on the area of his cheeks. It seemed that his blood had rushed to his head, making him hazy with unholy thoughts. 

Sanzo was confused. He found his position uncomfortable but he didn't want Hakkai to ever move. What's more he found that he was feeling very comfortable while being uncomfortable at the same time. I am going insane, thought Sanzo wearily. The feeling of Hakkai's body pressing so close to his made his whole body shivered and restless. Hakkai was so close he could even hear the other man's heart beating. Or was it his? 

Hakkai found to his amusement that he was enjoying his current position. Sanzo was so close. He could almost see Sanzo's painful expression being pinned down by him in his overly imaginative mind and smiled in the dark. Three times, he counted his genuine smile for the day. And Sanzo was so close. If he leaned down a bit, he would be able to kiss the monk and blamed it on his clumsiness or on the darkness. 

On second thought, Hakkai decided against taking advantage of the situation. He sighed inwardly as he was trying to get up, slowly and reluctantly. His mind switched to current event and he realized that something had escaped his mind completely. Surely he heard something before? Slowly and carefully he disentangled himself from the monk and positioned himself to sit on the cold floor. 

"Sanzo, are you alright?" 

Sanzo raised his body from the floor and sat himself in front of Hakkai. He placed his hand on the back of his head where he had hit something during his fall. 

"My head hit something," said Sanzo grudgingly, rubbing the pain on his head. 

There was something illuminating the dark now and it was coming from Hakkai's hand. "Here, let me take care of that." 

Before he could protest, Hakkai had leaned closer and placed his hand on the back of Sanzo's head. It was the second time in the last few minutes that he had come so close to the green eyed youkai. And this time he could see Hakkai's feature clearly, illuminated by the faint glow of Hakkai's healing energy. Sanzo felt a warm sensation replacing the pain that he felt earlier. He studied the face in front of him which had seem to shine with some inner light, making it looked even paler than ever yet somehow still retained its indescribable beauty. How Sanzo longed to touch those pale cheeks and feel their flawless skin... 

Sanzo's hand moved on its own accord. Just one touch, thought Sanzo. He could feel warm energy entering his body, enveloping him with strange yet comfortable feeling. He didn't feel the pain anymore, only the glowing warmth. Just one touch. His gaze was fixed on Hakkai's face, who was still concentrating with his eyes closed. Sanzo was mesmerized by the sight of the long dark eyelashes, the flawless skin of his cheeks, the pale lips... 

Hakkai opened his eyes and said in mildly satisfied voice, "There!" He slumped backward and did a routine to maintain the flow of energy inside his body. After a while he asked, "How are you feeling now?" 

Sanzo's hand stopped in mid air and he cursed himself silently. Whatever was he thinking? 

"Fine," replied Sanzo, looking away. "But you needn't to do that. It was only-" 

"It doesn't matter now," cut in Hakkai. "I found where our friends are. Try the lighter." 

Sanzo grabbed the lighter from the recesses of his robe and switched it on. He followed Hakkai's gaze and turned his head to find the thing that had hit his head. It was iron prison bars. Behind them was two figures lying on the floor. 

"Oi, Gojyo, Goku!" shouted Sanzo at the motionless figures. "Wake up, idiots!" 

Hakkai frowned when he noticed there was no positive reaction from the apparently sleeping figures of their comrades. He reached out his hand through the prison bars, trying to touch their bodies but couldn't because they were too far inside. There was no way to heal them if they were wounded by the enemies. Why didn't they move about? As if they were dead... 

"Gojyo!" he called out. "Goku!" 

No response. 

Suddenly panic attacked him. Hakkai stood up abruptly. 

"Sanzo, what if they're...," he didn't dare to say it out loud. 

Sanzo ignored Hakkai's unfinished question and stared at the motionless Gojyo and Goku. The truth was he was actually worried. What he needed to look for now was some signs that those two were still alive. Surely he could just make out the way Gojyo's chest rise and fall? It wasn't very apparent but he was sure enough about it. In turn, he inspected Goku's form and found the same thing happening and sighed his relief. 

"They're alright," said Sanzo, standing up. He wiped out his forehead, was amazed that he was sweating cold earlier. He wouldn't admit it, not even to Hakkai, that he was as worried as him about Gojyo and Goku. Not in a million years. 

"Thank goodness for that," sagged Hakkai in relief. The thought of losing his friends made him nauseous. He started to hate this place. It's better for all of them to get the hell out of this creepy place. A thought occurred to him. Maybe he could break the prison bars with his energy ball. 

"Sanzo, please stand back. I'm going to try something." 

Sanzo obediently stepped back to allow space for Hakkai as Hakkai poised to let go of his energy ball. The dungeon was illuminated by bright light of his pure energy for a few seconds before something went 'bang' loudly and it was dark again. 

"It didn't work," observed Hakkai a little puzzled. "The bars must be protected by something." 

"I suspected so," replied Sanzo. "It's just the same as the entrance door. Something is protecting them." 

"What do you think is protecting them?" 

Sanzo thought for a while and shrugged, "I'm not sure. It feels like magic." 

He took out his gun and aimed at the prison's lock. The bullet didn't seem to harm it in any way. 

"Magic?" asked Hakkai incredulously. "You didn't mean there were gods involved in this, did you?" 

Sanzo shrugged again. 

"It's useless to hang around here," said Sanzo decisively. "There's nothing we can do here. Let's try upstairs." 

Hakkai looked at the still figures of Gojyo and Goku. At least they're alive even although it's a bit suspicious the way they didn't stir during all the commotion around them. What's happened to them? thought Hakkai with an uneasy feeling. 

But still, Sanzo was right. Maybe they could find something, anything in the tower. Maybe a key to fit into the prison's lock. He eyed the lock doubtfully. 

"I wonder who's behind all this," Hakkai started walking up the stairs, following the monk. 

Sanzo had been thinking the same thing too for some time, amongst other things. His first suspicion had fallen on Kougaiji and his gang. But as event developed, the suspicion waned especially after both he and Hakkai had arrived in the deserted town. It just didn't seem like Kougaiji's style. With Kougaiji, things had always been more straightforward. 

His next suspicion then fell on the people, or rather, youkai behind Kougaiji. The villains who were working towards Gyumao's resurrection. This place had a malicious aura that would match the psychotic personality of those people. Sanzo wondered if it was wise to leave Goku and Gojyo just like that in the dungeon. But there was no other way. He nor Hakkai could do anything about the prison bars. Why did their attacks have no effect on anything in this building? There had to be some explanation to it and he's going to find out. 

Sanzo cast his mind on a completely different matter. A matter that had been weighing him down in the last few days. Why did he have to have such strange feeling towards the green-eyed youkai? Sanzo gritted his teeth. He'd never felt anything like this before, a burning desire to touch someone that had become so strong, it hurt. Sanzo clenched his fist. He recalled the recent incident in the dungeon, when Hakkai was healing him, a wave of emotions had come over him and he could still feel the tinge of those emotions within his body now. If he closed his eyes now he could see the very scene playing so clearly in his mind. He could see Hakkai's fair complexion, his hair glowing by the energy's dim light, his closed eyes, the dark eyelashes and his pale lips... 

Sanzo stopped suddenly and turned around. 

Hakkai who had also been occupied with his own thinking almost ran into Sanzo but he managed to stop himself in time. 

"What's wrong, Sanzo?" said Hakkai. "Don't keep on stopping so suddenly like that. You'll get us falling off the stairs." 

Sanzo didn't reply but placed a hand on the side of Hakkai's face. 

"S-anzo?" 

Hakkai looked up and was surprised to see the expression on the monk's face. Sanzo's eyes fixed on him, devouring him as if searching for something, his lips set so thin, his jaw so determined. Hakkai felt Sanzo's fingers on his cheeks, slowly caressing him. Sanzo? Caressing? Hakkai's astonishment was beyond words. 

Then Sanzo leaned closer. His face was so close to Hakkai's. His words came out hoarsely, surprising both himself and Hakkai. 

"Hakkai," he whispered. "May I?" 

Hakkai's eyes went wide. He couldn't tear his gaze from the sight of Sanzo's slightly parted lips, knowing what the monk's intending to do. Suddenly he felt his body trembled at Sanzo's touch. Slowly he was pulled closer to the monk. He couldn't trust himself to answer. Hakkai closed his eyes. 

Sanzo pulled Hakkai closer and pressed his lips on the green-eyed youkai's. Electric sensation went straight into his whole body the second their lips touched. Hakkai's lips were soft and sweet. Sanzo felt Hakkai's hand on his chest, clinging to his robe. He pulled Hakkai even closer with his other hand. He could hear Hakkai's breath had become uneven, or was it his? It didn't matter now. 

In the middle of the dimly lit stairs, their lips locked in each other, their worlds merged into one. The flickering light of the candles only served to illuminate two figures, standing a little unsteady, getting lost in each other's embrace. Sanzo slid his tongue inside and heard Hakkai gasped. The sound of it made Sanzo's body shiver uncontrollably. His mind went numb for Hakkai was kissing him back, almost as desperately as he felt. He burried his hand in the dark hair of the youkai. He would never let him go. He would never let him go. 

He would never let go. 

But he pulled away reluctantly and looked into the pair of green eyes that he loved so much. Yes, he loved. There was no other way. 

"Hakkai, I'm...," Sanzo began. 

Hakkai placed a finger on Sanzo's lips. "It's alright. I understand." 

Sanzo couldn't tear his gaze away from the greenness of Hakkai's eyes, from the depth of sorrow that those eyes always seemed to conceal so neatly. There were so many things that he wanted to tell him, so many things he'd like to ask him but there were so little ways. If only he could read the answers in those eyes. 

Hakkai looked away. He removed his hand from Sanzo's chest, adjusted his monocle and took a deep breath. In doing so, he tried to steady himself, steady his raging heart and mind for right now he was flustered and confused. He needed to calm down. It had been so long since he felt emotions this strong, felt a passion this hot. What did Sanzo do to him? There was so many things that he wanted to ask the monk. But personal wasn't the same as important. There was a more important thing to do. Hakkai sighed. Why did he always have to be the calm one? 

"Sanzo," he turned to face Sanzo and tried to sound as normal as possible. "I think we'd better get going. I don't think we're safe here." 

Sanzo opened his mouth and thought the better of it. Clenching both his fists, he turned around and walked on. 

"Sanzo," called Hakkai in dismay. "I don't mean-" 

"I understand," snapped Sanzo. "Let just get this over with." 

To be continued... 


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Still Time  
Chapter 3: 

They reached the entrance hall in no time because Sanzo walked fast ahead, crushing the stairs underneath him. Hakkai sighed wearily. I should have said something at least, he thought wretchedly. 

What could he have said? Sanzo was their leader and Hakkai had always respected him and cared enough about him, up until now. And now? Hakkai mused. Now was worse, he thought. He started to have unsuitable feelings towards the monk. He couldn't begin to explain it to himself. When Sanzo looked at him with that piercing stare, his heart started to race and his blood began to flow wildly. When Sanzo kissed him, he felt things that he thought he had forgotten to feel. 

Why did Sanzo kiss him? 

Hakkai replayed the scene in his head. Sanzo's eyes were on him, so seriously, so intently, as if trying to memorize every detail of his features... Sanzo's lips were warm and soft, pressing hard on his own lips... Hakkai's heart began to race again. He placed his hand on his chest because it's starting to hurt. 

There's no way the blonde monk was falling for him. It's not possible. Hakkai's hand went to cover his open mouth as realization dawned on him. 

It's not possible. 

Isn't it, Sanzo? 

"Look at that, will you?" said the monk suddenly. 

Hakkai looked up from his reverie and turned his attention to the direction of Sanzo's pointing finger. His eyes went wide in surprise to find a white dragon in the middle of the hall's floor. 

"Hakuryu!" Hakkai started to run towards the white dragon. "I told you to wait outside, didn't I?" 

Sanzo eyed the white dragon suspiciously. After all, Goku and Gojyo were kidnapped by a fake jeep. It might be possible that the one in front of them now was the fake one. He grabbed Hakkai's hand to stop him approaching a possible enemy. 

"Wait!" 

Hakkai looked down on his arm that was gripped by the monk. Immediately Sanzo let it go and turned away. 

"Don't you realize that it may be a fake Hakuryu?" said Sanzo irritably. 

"Fake?" asked Hakkai incredulously. But then he realized how true Sanzo words were. 

"I'm being careless, aren't I?" 

Sanzo ignored Hakkai's remark and approached the seemingly harmless dragon. He glared at it and received a pitiful "Kyu" from the white dragon. Sanzo took out his gun and pointed it at the dragon. 

"Kyu!" 

Sanzo unlocked the gun slowly in calculation and stepped towards the dragon. Hakkai opened his mouth to protest but changed his mind. Now that he's really looking at it, there was something different with the dragon. This white dragon seemed a little bit bigger than his Hakuryu. 

"Kyu!" 

The dragon slowly unfolded its wings and opened its mouth. Hakkai gasped in surprise. He recognized this familiar stance of Hakuryu. 

"Sanzo!" he ran forward. "Watch out!" 

White-hot flame was bursting out from the dragon mouth. Hakkai pushed Sanzo aside and created a barrier, barely in time, to stop the flame from harming both of them. He heard the monk muttered some curses from the floor and shot twice at the dragon. 

It dodged the bullets and fled towards the stairs. 

"Kyuu!" it screeched loudly. 

Sanzo and Hakkai were running to chase the dragon, taking a few steps at a time. The dragon held the key to all this mystery. After all, it was the first enemy that had shown up so far. 

This time Hakkai was running ahead of the monk. He was still fascinated with the dragon that was so alike with his dragon pet, Hakuryu. Could this dragon transform into a jeep too? Hakkai used to think that Hakuryu was one of a kind. Was he wrong in his assumption? What else could this dragon do? 

He stole a glance from the corner of his eye at the monk running closely behind him. There were so many things he'd like to talk to him but that had to wait. Hakkai cast his mind back on the dragon, which was far ahead of them, screeching as it's flapping its wings. 

The tower, Hakkai realized with his pounding heart for he was running out of breath. The dragon was heading to the tower. He clenched his fists tightly. 

"Kyuu!" once again the dragon screeched loudly, as if announcing its arrival. 

Sanzo and Hakkai arrived at the top of the stairs, panted heavily and looked up to see what's in store for them. 

"Kyuu!" the dragon circled the draughty chamber leisurely, mocking the new comers of their weaknesses. 

Sanzo opened his mouth to speak. 

"Shit!" he managed. 

In the far end of the room was a huge dragon, its scales were gleaming in the dimly lit room, sitting on a hoard made entirely of gold and assorted jewels. Its eyes glinted when it spotted two humans standing before it. It opened its mouth slowly if not lazily and blew a jet of flame at the visitors. 

Sanzo dodged quickly and shot at the dragon while Hakkai was trying to block the flame by creating yet another barrier. It was like trying to hold back a tsunami with a piece of cardboard. The force of the flame was so strong that Hakkai was pushed backward in an alarming rate. 

"Hakkai! Dodge!" shouted Sanzo urgently. 

Hakkai maneuvered and managed to miss the flame in time although he could smell burning garments. He looked at his clothing and commented lightly, "Oh my. What a waste of good clothes." 

"Ch," muttered Sanzo from the other side of the room. 

"Your bullets don't seem to harm the big fellow there, Sanzo," observed Hakkai unnecessarily. 

Sanzo reloaded his gun, ran towards the dragon and took aim. Surely the bullets hit the dragon? Sanzo cursed under his breath when the big dragon focused its attention to him. 

//Who are you, human?// 

The dragon seemed to speak in Sanzo's head. Its voice boomed in the depth of his skull. Sanzo grimaced. 

"Attacking first then questioning," commented Hakkai. "A rather strange method of socializing, I must say." 

So Hakkai heard it too, thought Sanzo. He kept his distance from the giant dragon. In the corner of his eyes, he could see the small white dragon circling around the room in a slow arc, as if watching an interesting show. 

"We're here to take our friends back," stated Hakkai calmly advancing towards the dragon. 

//Two humans in the dungeon? They are mine// 

"What do you want them for anyway?" asked Sanzo, interested despite himself. 

The giant dragon seemed to glare at Sanzo. 

"And who are you, by the way?" added Hakkai. 

//I am the last Keeper of Time// 

"What's a Keeper of Time?" asked Hakkai. 

//The Keeper of Time is The Keeper of The Knowledge. It is knowledge beyond any humans. I use Time to my own will. I can store, move, bend and stop Time. Everything in here is, you can say, Timeless. Nothing has changed here. Nothing will ever change unless I will it// 

"Oh," muttered Hakkai uncertainly. 

Is that why everything here doesn't seem to act normally? he thought. This place didn't obey the rules of time was what the dragon said. Hakkai recalled the dusty street outside and the wind, which didn't blow, and the air that didn't seem to move. Everything here operated on a different space of time. You cannot attack things that don't exist in time? Hakkai frowned. He couldn't understand. Everything seemed solid and real enough in this building and yet they didn't get blown up when they're supposed to be. 

Did the dragon control the time here or was here operating a different time from the rest of the world? Hakkai tried to understand the dragon's earlier explanation. Either way, it didn't seem to make any sense to him. 

//And now I must kill you// 

"Must you?" asked Hakkai absentmindedly. 

Or did the dragon mean that time was stopped here? Hakkai thought incredulously. His brain was working furiously. What's happened to Goku and Gojyo? Has their time been stopped too? 

//You are invading the Sacred Temple of The Keeper// 

"Sacred temple, huh?" Sanzo cast a sideway glance at his companion. 

"You got it all wrong, Hakkai. This isn't a witch castle. It's a temple." 

Hakkai scratched his head, "Ah I was very confident about it." 

"You're right about the dragon, though," said Sanzo, carefully eyeing the said object. 

"Yes," replied Hakkai brightly. "I told you-" 

//SILENCE!// 

The small white dragon took flight when the huge dragon unfolded its mighty wings. Hakkai paid his attention to the small dragon, which had fled out of one of the high windows in that room. He then cast his full attention to the giant one and took a stance. 

A blow of bright energy ball hit the scales of the dragon with no apparent effect. 

The dragon blew another jet of red-hot flame towards the green-eyed youkai. Hakkai held it back with his energy barrier but it was very difficult to maintain the stance. His hands were scorching hot, the wound on his hand was opening due to the extreme heat and the force of energy that he's employing. He knew his barrier wouldn't stand a chance against the dragon's flame and he was pushed backwards rapidly against his will. 

"Hakkai!" shouted Sanzo. 

He shot the remaining bullets in his gun at the dragon's head. The dragon stopped flaming to Hakkai's relief and turned its great head to the blonde monk. It moved its huge body around awkwardly as to face its new opponent. 

Sanzo reloaded his gun quickly while the dragon moved its scaly legs slowly to walk towards him. 

Hakkai caught his breath and looked around wildly. There must be something, thought Hakkai. It must have a weakness. But what? 

Their attacks didn't seem to have the desired effect on the dragon. It must be that time thing, cursed Hakkai inwardly. How could he deal with it? What did the dragon say earlier? It could store time, it said. It could stop time. When it stopped time, did it store it somewhere? 

Hakkai reached a hasty conclusion. There must be something that's not timeless in this building. That's where the dragon kept its time. 

Sanzo cursed loudly when the dragon's flame almost got him and burnt his robe's sleeve. He knelt on the floor and spat. All around him, furniture was crackling on fire and burnt. The temperature of the room went up alarmingly. Sanzo wiped sweat off his glistened face. 

The dragon moved slowly, purposefully towards Sanzo. Hakkai caught a glimpse of something moving behind the dragon's back. A Machinery? Hakkai peered in the poor light of the vast chamber. A glint flashed across his green eyes. Of course, he thought triumphantly. The clock on the tower! 

Hakkai ran towards the moving wheels of the tower's clock. It was a mere guess but it was worth a try. The clock on the top of the tower was the only thing that was alive in this building. It must be the key to defeat the giant dragon, Hakkai ran faster with that single thought on his mind. 

"Hakkai! Watch out!" 

Too late, the dragon's giant tail caught Hakkai fully on the chest and sent him flying towards the wall. Blood spurted from Hakkai's lips as he landed heavily on the floor. His ears rang loudly with the pounding inside his head. He mustn't lose consciousness, Hakkai fought the blackness that was overpowering his consciousness. He mustn't lose. Hakkai wiped the blood off his mouth and unsteadily stood himself against the wall. 

While Hakkai was trying to get a grip on himself, Sanzo was in facing the dragon in its anger alone on the other side of the chamber. Sanzo had also been thinking about the weakness points that the dragon might have. Walking backwards, Sanzo took an aim at the dragon's eye. He shot. 

The dragon let go a deafening wail as the bullet went straight into his right eye. Blood sprouted from it. Sanzo smirked in satisfaction. 

However, his satisfaction was short-lived as the image of the dragon before him blurred and the damage was undone. Sanzo's eyes went wide. He blinked his eyes several times. What the hell is happening? 

The dragon's right eye was undoubtedly fine. There wasn't a single trace of blood nor bullet nor anything. As if Sanzo hadn't shot his gun and injured it. Sanzo cursed as the dragon continued its advance towards him. The bullet might not hurt him but now the dragon was radiating even stronger menace than ever. Its mighty wings flapped threateningly. Sanzo covered his eyes from flying debris that was caused by the great wings' movement. 

Hakkai watched all that with renewed comprehension. He began to understand this whole time business. It wasn't that the dragon was invincible to any attacks, quite the contrary, it was just an ordinary giant fire breathing dragon, which would feel pain when attacked. Hakkai clutched his painful chest but he smiled. His head was still pounding disturbingly and he was feeling strangely light and dizzy but now he could see a way out from this blasted castle, or temple, as the dragon had put it earlier. 

He was right about the tower's clock. It was the key. 

Hakkai thought. What he needed was an opening. 

"Sanzo! Shoot at his eye! Again!" he yelled. 

Sanzo cast him a fleeting glance and turned his attention back to the dragon. So he's got a plan, Sanzo mused in silence and smiled grimly. It'd better be a good plan. He aimed and shot twice. 

This time, the monk hadn't only shot at one eye but both. The dragon wailed angrily and his body moved violently towards the offending monk. Hakkai took his chance and ran as fast as he could towards the clock's machinery. He could see the cogwheels and levers now. 

Quickly Hakkai gathered his energy with both his hand and when he felt it's powerful enough, he let it go. A blast of white light, accompanied by the breakdown of a lot of metals sent disturbing noises across the whole building. Where the clock had been was now a big charred hole. 

Hakkai turned his head just in time to see the great dragon realizing what's happening only too late. It let go of his last wail of anger and lashed at the blonde monk. The monk hadn't had a chance to dodge when a talon as big as a tree caught him and hurled him across the room. The dragon screamed in anguish. Its glistened scales were rapidly becoming somewhat gray coloured. The dragon's great face was now covered with wrinkles and lines. Time had caught up with it. With one last breath that was as audible as a sigh, the dragon crumbled into dust. 

With eyes wide and mouth open, Hakkai watched the rapidly aging dragon before him in fascination. He hadn't expected this. Nor had he expected the flailing Sanzo as he was hurtled at a speed towards the newly created hole. Hakkai ran as he'd never ran before and threw his body on the floor and caught the monk's right hand just in time at the mouth of the hole. 

"Sanzo!" 

The green-eyed youkai stopped himself from being pulled downward by sheer will. He could feel the wind blow in his face. Hakkai grimaced. He had used his wounded hand to reach out for the monk. Bad move on his part, he knew. 

Sanzo felt the pain from his outstretched arm and shoulder spreading fast to his other limbs. The last blow of the dragon was not something he could just ignore. He might have broken a few ribs. Damn dragon, he cursed silently. 

He looked up at the grim and determined face above him. He opened his mouth to say... what? What do people say in a situation like this? 

Sanzo looked away and cursed at the world in general and his weakness in particular. He had looked down and realized the fall would definitely kill him. He cursed inwardly at himself. How could he be so careless? 

A trickle of blood was slowly traveling down his face. Blood? 

Sanzo looked up once again and saw what it was. Hakkai's wounded hand was gripping his hand tightly but it was obvious that the wound had opened and even though the green-eyed youkai tried to hide it, the pain that was displayed on his face was noticeable. Blood trickled freely from the wound. 

"Let go of me!" 

Hakkai looked incredulously at the monk, "What are you talking about, Sanzo?" 

"Don't be stupid," Sanzo glared. "You know you can't hold on much longer." 

"I won't let go," stated Hakkai firmly. 

"Idiot," hissed Sanzo. "You'll fall, you idiot!" 

"No," replied Hakkai stubbornly. But cold sweat was betraying him. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on like this. But one thing that he was sure about was he wasn't going to let go. 

Sanzo couldn't bear thinking about dragging the green-eyed youkai to death because of his own weakness. Wasn't he the one who said he'd kill anyone who's on his way? He was in the way now, he knew. There's no need for both of them to die. Sanzo pointed his gun at Hakkai's outstretched hand. 

Hakkai's eyes narrowed as he realized what the monk's intending to do. 

"Nice try, Sanzo," he said grimly. "Shoot my hand and I'll jump." 

"W-what?" 

"I said," said Hakkai slowly and deliberately. "I won't let you go." 

Sanzo looked up to find only determination and defiance on the youkai's eyes. They were locked in a battle of will. The monk glared with all the anger that he could muster but at last he was the first to look away. Hadn't he known it, once Hakkai got something on his mind, it's useless to try to change it. 

"Ch!" was all Sanzo could manage. 

Hakkai smiled the smile. 

He realized that any moment now he could lose his grip and plunge to death. Together with the blonde monk. And he didn't want that. Not yet. He was just discovering a lot of things about the said monk. And about himself. They couldn't die now. But he was so numb now he couldn't feel anything. Hakkai prayed to whatever gods happened to be listening. 

And then, unexpectedly something caught his attention. Hakkai strained his ears, he thought he could hear something. Someone. 

Could it be...? 

"Hakkai!" gasped someone from behind him. "What the hell's happening?" 

"And where's Sanzo?" asked another familiar voice. 

= = = = = = = = = = 

The four of them were safely inside an inn, sitting around a table in Sanzo's room. The monk had decided to cancel the earlier plan and stay another night to recover from today's skirmish. 

The usual commotion was soon ensued, resulting from both Gojyo and Goku trying to ask and explain what had happened at the same time. 

"So yeah! We were taken to that creepy town and then-" 

"I could have beaten up that Hakuryu look alike if-" 

"You couldn't even beat a seatbelt!" 

"What did you say, you stupid monkey!" 

"Don't call me-" 

"Shut up!" shouted Sanzo irritated and stood up from his seat. His fan slapped the heads of both monkey and kappa. It was so peaceful when these two weren't around. 

"Ouch!" 

"Ouch!" 

Gojyo cursed and rubbed his head. 

"Anyway, what's happened to you guys?" he asked Hakkai was calmly sipping his cup of green tea. 

"Yeah," chirped in Goku. "You were in pretty bad shapes when we found you." 

Hakkai put down his cup and told them his story, deliberately omitting certain incidents. He glanced at the monk when he got to the part of the story where they were in the dungeon. Their eyes met for a second before the blonde monk looked away and Hakkai quickly returned his attention to his audience as not to attract unwanted attention from the two. It would be so ackward to explain to these two. Hakkai plunged on with his narrative. 

When he was telling his audience about their fight with the giant dragon, Goku started asking him questions. 

"What do you mean by storing time?" his brows wrinkled in confusion. "I don't understand." 

"Well," Hakkai scratched his head. "It's a little hard to explain although I think I understand the principle correctly but I'll try." 

"It's like this," he began. 

"As far as I could understand it, the dragon could turn back time. For example, when it's got wounded, it turned the time back to where he hasn't been wounded and stayed or continued from there." 

"And it's the same with all the things that building. The dragon controlled the time of everything inside the building and probably outside too. So when we attacked the door or the prison bars or basically if we attacked anything there, it wouldn't have any effect at all because they would be automatically reset to when they hadn't been attacked." 

"I think that's also what happened to you two. I think the dragon stopped your time, that's why you two looked as if you're dead." 

"Oh!" Goku's mouth opened in comprehension. 

"I guessed where the dragon stored the stolen time correctly, luckily," Hakkai allowed himself a little smile. "And blew it. When the clock was blown up, time leaked into the place and caught up with everything. That's why the dragon turned to ashes because it should really have died long time ago." 

"I should have known," Sanzo suddenly contributed to the story. "Dragons like that have extinct ages ago." 

"Ah," sighed Gojyo. "It's a relief." 

"And so it ended our story of tonight," concluded Hakkai cheerfully. 

"Wow!" said Goku. "I wish I could have a go at the dragon." 

Gojyo put his arm on Goku's head, "Idiot. You can only think of food and fight." 

Goku pried Gojyo's hand away, "Better than you who thinks only women and beer!" 

"The only things in the world that kept me going so far," grinned the red-haired man. 

"Pervert!" 

"Monkey!" 

"Don't call me-" 

"Can't you two shut up?!!" yelled Sanzo. A vein on his temple was throbbing alarmingly. He had endured enough for the day, he didn't need anymore nuisance from the annoying duo. 

"And get out from my room!" he pointed the gun threateningly. 

"Wah!" 

Both Goku and Gojyo raced towards the door and slammed the door before a loud bang was issued. Gojyo cursed the monk loudly and swore vengeance. 

"Ahahaha," laughed Hakkai with his usual calmness. Everything was back to normal and he was glad of it. 

"Anyway," he stood up from his chair and moved towards the door. "It's getting late. I'd better get going too." 

"Hakkai," called Sanzo when Hakkai was opening the door. Hakkai turned around. 

"Yes?" 

Sanzo looked at the green eyes of the man standing in his doorway and reached a decision. He had decided it earlier today, in that forsaken tower. And he would do it now. 

"Stay here tonight?" he managed to say. 

Hakkai stood motionless for a few seconds, hesitating. A million of thoughts flashed across his mind. A million doubts rose in the depth of his heart. He gripped the door handle tightly as he's making a choice. 

Hakkai stepped back inside the room and closed the door carefully. 

  
To be continued... 

= = = = = = = = 

Author's Notes: It's actually THE END of the story but I will put some kind of an epilogue to wrap things up tidily. 

= = = = = = = = 


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Still Time  
Chapter 4: Conclusion 

Far off in the west, a white dragon was flying purposefully towards a great building surrounded by nondescript shadows. It landed and perched on the shoulder of a man with a white lab jacket. 

"Kyu!" the small dragon chirped. 

The man seemed to understand the dragon's speech as he nodded and strode inside the building. 

"Oh well," he said lightly. "There goes the last true dragon on this earth. What a waste." 

= = = = = = = = 

A month later, the dreaded bill had arrived in the House of The Three Aspects. One of them was examining the bill while at the same time trying not to look closely at the numbers. The first time they received their credit card bill, it was quite a shock and quickly learnt that it was a big mistake to entrust the gold credit card into the blonde haired monk's hand. 

"How is it?" asked One Aspect, hoping against all previous evidence that the bill would be somewhat reasonable this month. 

"It's...," the One holding the bill in her hand was hesitating. "Amazing." 

"What?" 

"It's less than last month's bill," stated the female Aspect. 

"What?" chorused the other two Aspects. 

It was the first occurrence of the bill not being bigger than the month before, which shocked the Three Aspects immensely. 

"I think it's because," the female Aspect traced the bill with her finger. "They seemed to cut down the accommodation expenses." 

"How?" 

"They seemed to rent three bedrooms, not four in many of the occasion here." 

"Sometimes two rooms," added the bewildered Aspect. 

"I wonder why?" she asked the other two. 

The three of them exchanged glance and then shrugged. 

"It is a good thing," decided one of them, which earned the agreement of the others. 

"Let's just hope they keep this up." 

= = = = = = = = 

It's been two months since that dragon incident. Hakkai pulled off his shirt, folded it carefully and placed it on the chair beside the bed. 

"Why do you like wearing green?" asked Sanzo from the bed. 

Hakkai strode towards the power point on the wall and turned off the light. 

"People say it brings out the colour of my eyes." He grinned in the dark. 

Then he put himself next to the slender body of the monk. He felt himself at ease. Sanzo pulled him closer and placed butterfly kisses all over his neck and shoulder. Hakkai stifled a moan from escaping. Sanzo was on top of him now, looking at him in the dark. He could feel the monk's gaze and the monk's hands on his bare chest. He placed his hand to caress the side of Sanzo's beautifully sculpted face, tenderly. 

"What about you, Sanzo?" he asked. 

"What about me?" 

"What's your favourite colour?" 

Sanzo hadn't expected this but he smiled. Hakkai wouldn't be able to see him in the dark. 

"Green," he answered. 

Hakkai chuckled softly.   


  
  
THE END

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